Malaga city court has received double the amount of claims over the mortgage ‘floor clause’ than expected.

There is just one court in Malaga that has been assigned to deal with the number of claims, which has now reached 2000 since June, twice the number originally expected.

Last December, the European Court of Justice ruled that people who believed they were sold a ‘floor clause’ in their mortgage could claim money back; floor clauses were fixed interest rates hidden by banks in the small print of mortgage contracts, which many home owners unknowingly agreed to just by signing.

Judge Jose Maria Paez says: “unless more resources are allocated, it will be very difficult to process this number of demands without incurring big delays,” reports online newspaper RTN.

Banks have been reluctant to pay out, forcing those affected by the clause to take their cases to court, says Belen Rincon, a lawyer specialising in bank claims. But with only one court dealing with the proceedings and an unprecedented number of claimants coming forward time could be running out for cases to be heard.

“It is estimated that the limit of cases that can be treated by a standard court a year is 1,700 or 1,800; after that it collapses,” says Rincon.

“Taking into account that in two other courts, which have four judges, they are looking at settling claims in 2021, it is clear that claimants will have to be patient.” He added.

There are plans for a second specialist court in Malaga to take on some of the claims but no date has been released as of yet, however judge Jose Maria Paez believes this still is not sufficient and another four courts should be assigned to help.